How to Write a Nonfiction (by Dani Burton)

Though I will be otherwise engaged at a family bar mitzvah, I would like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a fabulous time at homecoming this weekend! I hope you all have the best time. Now on to my post in honor of college essay season for seniors and the nonfiction unit in creative comp!

• Choosing the subject matter will dictate how well you can go about writing the piece. 

Looking for important and telling personal experiences is probably the wrong way to pick the perfect topic. Think of what would be easiest or most fun to write... your favorite food, the walk to the bus stop every day, the topics you think about right before you go to sleep, an inside joke, something you're embarrassed to like, the slightly awkward relationship you have with a coach. It should be personal so you can tell the truth of a part of your life. You should associate everything in the piece with specific feelings and visual memories so that you know it's really significant to your experience. (But you don't have to be the main character unless it's a college essay, so you could write nonfiction that tells your brother's truth, as an example) Big firsts and obvious "essay" topics can set you up for a dramatic memoir or college essay, but small natural moments that show your everyday identity and use your own voice can accomplish a lot more artistically in less words about the moral behind the story. 

• Try to do more with fewer words. In essence, use Mrs. Green's classic "show, don't tell," and balance the telling the message with careful subtlety.

For a college essay, the topic choice itself should indicate much about your character-your values-without you having to state it and restate it (for example, writing about going to the zoo with parents says you love animals, have a close relationship with your family, and get joy out of going places and experiencing things). Then make your words achieve more effect in the crafting of the language. Just because it's not a poem doesn't mean sound devices wouldn't be lovely! Your detail can put the reader into the story like a short fiction piece. Remember that the writing should be good writing.

• In your approach, try to tell the story.

Pretend you're whispering this to someone. You're revealing something secret within the fabric of your story. Or pretend you're giving the full report over fast food, eating and excited and gossiping. Nonfiction writing can be humorous and emotional, full of heart and personality. Try to avoid slipping into the mindset of an essay-writer by leaving out the right word because it's too simple like speech or by always having topic sentences and repetitive structure. The story can move and flow naturally. Imagining yourself excited to reveal your latest gossip will make you feel like your memories truly are interesting and worth sharing with a reader. You're interesting! Your embarrassing habits, your pathetic encounters with boys/with girls, breakfast, the color on the spine of your favorite book, these things are interesting!

• The reader will accept your flaws.

Some of my favorite examples of memoir and college essays work because they are self-deprecating. The writers know how to poke fun at themselves and write about themselves as multifaceted people with strengths and weaknesses they are aware of. You can come out and say that you made the wrong choice when it mattered, that you were nasty to a friend, that you will never be first string on a football team, that you are a little vain or materialistic, whatever! I'm willing to bet your reader will love your honesty.

Hope this helps you find inspiration and direction in your writing! (Remember, I'm no expert!)